Lost: Mobisode 11, "Jin Has a Temper-Tantrum on the Golf Course"Tuesday, January 15, 2008

“Are you too good for your home?” - Happy Gilmore

On this week's new Lost Mobisode, Jin flips out. It's a nice little scene on the golf course, and Jin pulls a Happy Gilmore worthy tantrum, hence the title, “Jin Has a Temper-Tantrum on the Golf Course.” Now, I like this Mobisode, even if it doesn't say much of anything about the mythology on the island. No secrets are revealed, and we gain very little insight into the over arching story. But, that's the beauty of these Missing Pieces installments. Scenes that have no story correlation can be produced, if only to enlighten us into the minds of the characters. In the situation the Oceanic 815 survivors find themselves in, I would expect a lot of thess kind of outbursts to occur, where the slightest little thing makes someone explode with anger. I know I would have moments where I'd just flip out over something and pull the whole “woe is me” routine. After I recap the episode below, though, there are a few gripes I have over the legitimacy of this golf contest these men were playing.

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Jin, Michael and Hurley are playing golf. Hurley sets the stage, saying that if Jin makes this last putt, he wins. Hurley knows Jin cannot understand him, but he believes that he can “feel” him. Jin lines the putt up and swings...he barely misses. Hurley congratulates Michael on the win, but then it starts – Jin flips out. He starts ranting and raving. He says he can't believe he lost to Hurley and Michael and asks why he can't win one little thing. He wails about being all alone on the island. He whines about his broken handcuffs still being attached to his hands. He laments the fact that no one can understand him. Hurley and Michael stand by, unable to do anything, trying to wait out the veritable storm of Jin's temper.

Now, I have to nitpick here. If Jin really would have won with the final putt, a miss wouldn't equal a loss. It'd be a tie. That's if they were playing stroke play, which one would assume they were. The same thing applies if they were playing straight-up match play – a missed putt would only equal a tie (assuming he made the gimme second putt). The only situation that makes sense in this scenario is if Jin was given a half stroke per hole handicap in a match play event. That means every time Jin ties Michael on a hole, he wins the hole. Michael would have to outright beat Jin by a stroke to win any hole. This is the only scenario in which the scene makes sense.

The episode was written by Drew Goddard, who may or may not know how to play golf. It's interesting that Goddard got this Mobisode released this week, seeing as the film Cloverfield opens this Friday, a film that Goddard wrote himself. Some stealth cross-promotion, perhaps?